Internal-combustion engine.



H. L. REESE & H. H. PLATT. INTERNAL comsusnon ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED B11010, 1.912.

Patented 24; 1914.

A f I x l'filmzlland .P,Za

W W W+ oNrrED STATES rii'rnnir OFFICE.

'HARVEY LL nEtesn, OF PHILADELPHIA, AND HAVILAND H. aim, or. WALLINGFORD,

. PENNSYLVANIA.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

I Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed December 20, 1912. Serial No. 737,842,

Patented Mar. 24, 1914.

i 0 will whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that we, HARVEY L. Reese and HAVlLAND H. PLATr, both citizens of the United States, and residing, respectively, at 1422 Arch street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and VVallingford, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements' in Internal- Combustion Engines, of which thefollewing is a specification. a

One object of thisinvention is to provide an engine whose construction and method of operation shall'be relatiyely simple, and whose'part shall be so designated andiarranged that said engine for a given capacity shall be comparatively inexpensive to manufacture and maintain.

We further desire to provide an internalconib tion. engine and method'of operating thejsa'me, accordin to which the flow of fuel and of the P:- ucts of combustion shall be controlledhy valves driven directly from,

the crankshaftftlz'c en, me including a cornprcssion and aworking yiinder with which said valves coiiperate, in combination with a combustion chamber whose communica tion with said cylind r? is governed by said valves. 7 I

Gtherobjects oi our invention are to construct an internal combustion engine operative on the fou" cycle principle,' but withcif' halfspeedr mechanism; the arrangement rts being such as to reduce the,cost, ear, and increase the efficiency,

- reliabilityof the engine. 7 i r object is'to construct an engine -ove type so that'it shall possess a positive intake at all speeds, whichintake shall so nnhainpered by the expansion of burned gases in the clearance space."

. These objects and other advantageous ends we secure as'hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which: H

Figure 1, a vertical section, to some ex tent diagrannnalic, illustrating an engine acted in accordance with our invenand Fig; 2, is an inverted section on the line i'!'d, 1..-

As shown inthe above d rawings,we provide a crank case l having bearings for the crank shaft 6, and provided with a removable bottom. closure '21. On said crank case is mounted a. cyli "-2- castingil, which includes .i' ,u: wcricingcylinder 8, a compression cyltrio is likewise provided with a strap 15 directly connected to a second sleeve valve 16, reciprocable within the working cylinder 3. The first of these sleeves 14 is provided with two ports 24 and 25 placed to respectlvely connect with the inlet port 22 of the cylinder casting and with the port 5 of the combustion chamber, while the second sleeve 16 is likewise provided with two ports 26 and 2? placed to respectively communicate with the port 5 of the combustion chamber andwith the exhaust port 23 ofthe cylinder casting.

It will be noted that the engine hasbut a single crank, with two crank pins, as indicated at 7 and 7, and to these are connected two rods 28 and 29, respectively attached to two pistons 30 and 31, which are operative respectively within the valvcsleeves l4 and 16 of the compression and Working cylinders. The crank is in a great measure counterbalanced by a weight 11, connected thereto midway between the two crank pins by a bolt l2, in such a manner that it projects oppositely to said pins.

The compression cylinder l'is providedton 31. and its head 17, when said pistons are 105 at the upper ends of their strokes;

The above noted construction is employed because it is obviously desirable to drive out of the compression cylinder the greatest possihl'e quantity of each of the fuel charges 1 delivered therefrom to the combustion chamber, and for this reason the clearance in this cylinder is made as small as is allowable. In the case of the working cylinder, the clearance only slightly greater than that in the compression e linder because the necessary closure of the exhaust port before the working piston reaches the tug:- of its. stroke, umwoidably traps some of the products of combustion, and it has been found advisab to provide some small clearance for h cominodation ofsuch gases. A suit or -ge-igniting device, such as the sp is provided within the combustion char and the various parts of the cylinder cas l and heads are preferably water-jacketed, as shown. In order, under operating conditions, to prevent leakage from the combustion chamher through the port 25 into the compression cylinder, we mount in a suitable recess of the cylinder casting a curved plate 33 pressed toward the sleeve 14 by a suitable spring. We likewise provide a second plate 34 for preventing leakage through the valve port 26 of the sleeve 16; this being also'provided with a spring of suitable design, for pressing it into engagement with said sleeve.

Under operating conditions, and assuming that the shaft 6 is rotate in a counter clockwise direction when considered from a position immediately adjacent the fly wheel 10, it will be seen that with the cranks at their highest positions, the piston 30 in the compression cylinder is just beginning its downward movement, while the valve sleeve 14 is moving upwardly, so that the port 24 therein shortly permits communication between the inlet or fuel supply port 22, and the interior of said sleeve. Obviously, communication through the port 25 with the combustion chamber 5 is cut oil. Fuel is therefore drawn into the compression cylinder during the full downward stroke of the piston 30, and since the coinbustion chamber 5 iliti is cut off from said cylthe slec 'c M before the port 24 us, it follows that said cylinder is comrctely filled with fresh fuel unmixed with cut pr facts of combustion from a ous explosion. The eccentric 8 is so set that by the me the piston 30 has cached and just pas the lowest point of its stroke, the valve ll cuts oii communication with the inlet p t 22, so that the fuel charge in the cylinder 4 is delivered into the combustion chamber 5 through the port 25, which .rttv (30111"5; into register with the port The )n 'it; 5) is so set that during this transfer oi the combustion chamber, the sleeve upetcly cuts off nommunt cation w re cylinder 3, and by the time the piston 0 has reached the top of its stroke, practically all ofthe fuel within the cylinder has been transferred to the come reaches .the top of its stroke and when the gases in the working cylinder 3 have been highly compressed to a' pressure substan tially equal to that in the combustion cham her, the valve sleeve 16 permits communication between the combustion chamber and the interior of the cylinder 3, whereupon the charge in said chamber is fired by the igniting device 32. The products of combustion then act on the working iston 31 and force it downwardly in the cylinder 3, untilwhen it reaches substantially the bottom of its stroke, the sleeve 16 opens communication between said cylinder and the exhaust port 23 of :the cylinder casting, thus permitting the escape of the expanded products of combustion. At this time, the compressor piston 30 has likewise reached the bottom of its stroke after having drawn in another charge of fresh fuel, and moves upwardly to transfor and compress this fuel inthe combustion chamber. Before communication with the combustion chamber is cut off by the sleeve and after the port 27 has opened, practically complete scavenging of the combustion chamber takes place through the working cylinder, and thereafter the piston 31 ekpels the products of combustion from the cylinder 3 untilit has made practically seveneighths of its upward stroke, whereupon the port 27 is closed by said piston. Thereafter,

the continued upward movement of the lat tcr compresses the spent gas still remaining in the working cylinder until it is at substantially the pressure of the unfired fresh charge in the combustion chamber. This fresh charge is then exploded, and the cycle of operations heretofore described is re pcated. I

It will be noted that the sleeve 16 opens communication between the working cylinder 3 and the combustion chamber 5, slightly before the piston 31 reaches the top of its stroke, thus permitting an escape for the highly compressed spent gases in said cylind'er and allowing of the sparking or ignition being advanced beyond the engine center. The combustionchamber 5 is prefer ably given a substantially spherical form in order to permit of the most efiicient combustion of the fuel charge therein, and. .it isnotcd that the whole engine is constructed and arranged with a view to simplifying its structure and reducing the number of the parts required. Obviously, an engine havmg but a single crank, is considerably less utilizing the e bustion engine, of a compression cylinder;

expensive than one having two cranks set at different angles, and the driving of the valve sleeves from said crank shaft instead of from one or more auz iliary shafts, likevise nmterially reduces the expense both of construction and maintenance, as Well as assists in securing the maxinunr; simplicity of construction. It is further noted that there is an explosion for every l'QVOlllilOll of the shaft although the engine operates on the four cycle principle, and in view of the small clearance in the cinnpression cylinder, it is enabled to secure the most cient action since the fresh charge is not mixed with spent gases prior to its aemission to the combustion cl'zamber.

While we preferably employ 'zeve valves for controlling the dew of f1 and o products of combustion throu it will be understood that win from our illYGHt-lOi}. we may M a number of other forms or types of valves for the some pm.

1. The co nbinetion in an i bustion engine, of a compressnm cyl a working cylinder; pistons for ders; a combustion chamber; mechan eluding a single sleeve valve for contrz'llling the flow of fuel into the compression cylin der and from the same A0 the combustion chamber; other mechani. end sleeue elve for controlling flow of products of combustion from th combustion chamber to the Wori dyhnrcr and from the latter; with means for firing .l'uel charges in the combustion chamber.

The combination in bustion engine of c. a sleeve valve therein; a l a second slee c valve the-r ii; p. said cylinders; combus on Chan pable of connnunicei'ing tl'zrougli With said cylinders; and means for igniting aiiuel charge bribe-combustion chamber.

3. The combination in an internal combustion engine of a combustion chamber a cylinder and piston for compressing the fuel charges in said chamber; me for ex ploding the charges in the coud won chamber; and a working and piston for I s of coma; with a I be L-l." arc the compression cylinder during the l pert of the compression stroke and a ccnd valve adjusted to permit coznznuni between the combustion chamber and the working bastion from valve ad usted to cylinder during the expansion 'strolie end" for a portion of the exhaust 14. .The combination in an internal co having aneinlet poitya Working cylinder having an exhaust port; plstons for said der formed to control the flow of fuel through both of its ports; a second valve controlling the flow of products of com-buslion through both of the ports of the working cylinder; and means for actuating said valves.

5. The combination in an internal combustion engine of a compression cylinder; 21 working cylinder; pistons for said cylinders; a combustion chamber; a sleeve valve for each cylinder; means for actuating said valves to connect and cut off said chamber and the cylinders at predetermined points of the strokes of the pistons; said means including the engine crank shaft and ocean-- tries thereon directly and independently connected to the valves.

6. The combination in an internal combustion engine of a compression cylinder; 3. working cylinder having an exhaust port; a combustion chamber; pistons for said cylinders; a crank shaft having two crank pins extending in substantially the same straight line; means for connecting said crank pins with the pistons; valves; with means for actuating said valves to connect and cut 011' said chamber and the cylinders at predetermined points of the stroke of the pistons, one of the valves being adjusted to establish communication between the combustion chamber and the exhaust port through the working cylinder during the first portion of the exhaust stroke.

7. The combination in an internal combustion engine'of a compression cylinder; 0. Working cylinder; pistons for said cylinders; a combustion chamber opening into both of said cylinders; a sleeve valve operative in each of the cylinders for controlling the flow of working fluid therethrough; a crank shaft; means .for directly connecting said shaft to both of said sleeve valves; and means for connecting the shaft to both of said -ist0ns.

8; he combination in an internal combustion engine of a combustion chamber; a compression cylinder; :1 working cylinder; pistons in said cylinders; a valve for connecting the compression cylinder and said chamber during the'compression stroke of the piston in said cylinder and a second valve adjusted teconnect thecombustion chamber and the working cylinder during the Working stroke of the piston in the latter and for a part only of the exhaust stroke; with means for igniting charges in the combustion chamber.

' 9. The combination in an internal combustion engine-of compression and Working cylinders; pistons for said cvlinders; there being an intake port for the compression cylinder and an exhaust port for the working cylinder; a combustion chamberftwo cylindrical valves for the cylinders having ports for controlling the flow of fluid into and from them; with means for actuating the valves to open the compression cylinder to the intake port and close it to the combustion chamber, and to open the working cylinder to said chamber and close'it to the exhaust port during the outward movement of the pistons in the cylinders, and during the inward movement of said pistons to close the compression cylinder to the intake port and open it to the combustion chamber, and to open the working cylinder to the exhaust port andthereafter close it to said combustion chamber to permit of the scavenging of said chamber through the working cylinder.

10. The combination in an internal combustion engine of a compression cylinder having a fuel inlet; a working cylinder having an exhaust opening; a combustion chamher opening into both of said cylinders; a sleeve valve in the compression 0 linder having ports cooperating with the uel inlet and withthe opening to the combustion chamber; a. second sleeve valve in the working cylinder having ports cooperating with the opening from the combustion chamber and with the exhaust opening; a shaft having two crank pins whose axes are substantially coincident; pistons in said cylinders; a rod connecting each piston with one of the crank pins; and eccentrics on the crank shaft having straps directly connected to the sleeve valves respectively.

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HARVEY L. HAVILAND H. ZPLATT.

Witnesses 'WILLLAM E, BRADLEY, Joe. H. KLEIN. 

